Summary
On 19 August 2022, a draft national law in Ecuador on the rights of non-human animals was presented to the National Assembly by Ecuador’s Defensoría del Pueblo (Ombudsman’s Office), following a directive from the Constitutional Court to develop legislation protecting animals as rights-bearing beings.
The proposed law is intended to complement, not duplicate, Ecuador’s 2008 constitutional recognition of the rights of nature (Pachamama), as the current constitution protects ecosystems as a whole but does not provide provide detailed, enforceable standards for the treatment of individual animals. This draft law seeks to fill that gap by defining animals as sentient beings and establishing protections against cruelty and exploitation.
The Ley Orgánica para la Promoción, Protección y Defensa de los Derechos de los Animales No Humanos (Organic Law on the Promotion, Protection, and Defense of the Rights of Non-Human Animals) is a proposed national law, not yet enacted, that emerged from a combination of judicial mandates and civil society advocacy.
Legal Process
The origins of the proposal lie in the 2022 Constitutional Court ruling (the “Estrellita” case), which recognized wild animals as subjects of rights and ordered the state to create a legal framework to operationalize those rights. In response, the Defensoría del Pueblo, working with organizations such as Protección Animal Ecuador, Fundación Cóndor Andino, and other civil society groups, drafted the bill and submitted it to the Assembly in August of 2022. The proposal was then formally taken up by the Assembly’s Biodiversity Commission in October of 2022, beginning the legislative review process.
Throughout 2024, the bill remained under active debate, with Ecuador’s National Assembly holding hearings, gathering expert input, and attempting to consolidate multiple animal protection initiatives into a single framework. However, the process became increasingly contested, with disagreements between animal rights advocates, government actors, and industry groups over the scope and strength of protections. By mid-2025, the draft (in a modified form often referred to as LOPDA) faced significant criticism and calls for withdrawal or revision.
Involved Organizations
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2025. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor.https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/ecuador-proposed-national-bill-organic-law-on-the-promotion-protection-and-defense-of-the-rights-of-non-human-animals/.
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